


Letters to Bug (Trainers)

by Kaoupa



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Fan Games, Pokemon Reborn
Genre: Alternate Universe, Letters, Story as Letters, sibling relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:41:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26584561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoupa/pseuds/Kaoupa
Summary: Shelly Citra loves her family, and admires her brother.She just wishes that it felt like they returned the favor.
Relationships: Heather Molinar & Shelly Citra
Kudos: 7





	1. Letters to Bugsy

**Author's Note:**

> I hope I’m not being too OOC here with Shelly. I think you can sort of see her becoming more confident over time through these letters. I hope I captured her personality well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Pokemon, or Reborn.

_ Hi, Bugsy. _

_ It’s me, Shelly. I haven’t been writing much lately, since it seems you never reply to me after I do write… but things have gotten scary lately. _

_ The train blew up a day or two ago. And Heather’s been coming around to see me more lately - she says her dad has been acting weirder than usual. It’s nice to see her, but she’s been acting a little weird too, it seems.  _ _ And a few of the city wards have been overgrown by plants, somehow. It seems like an entire forest grew up overnight, I don’t know how that’s possible... _

_ I hope that things start making more sense soon. _

_ Love, your sister. _

  
  
  


_ Hey, big bro. _

_ Sorry I’ve been forgetting to call and write for the last few months. Things have been weird over here in Reborn. Weirder than usual, I mean.  _

_ It turns out we did have an evil team over here after all - they call themselves Team Meteor. They were apparently behind the train blowing up and the wards getting overgrown. I don’t know why they call themselves that or why they did it in the first place, but they can be really scary. Heather - her dad was apparently one of them. Before he… jumped off… _

_ The old Fighting leader actually got killed by their leader. I didn’t know her, but I was really scared when I heard about that. I wasn’t anywhere near that place when she died, but… it was still scary. _

_ I hope things get better soon. And I hope Heather gets better soon too… she flew away on her Salamence. She hadn’t spoken for a while before that too... I hope she’s okay... _

_ I’ll write again when we find her, I guess. We’re going to stay with some of the other Gym Leaders and their family for a while. _

_ From, your sister Shelly. _

  
  
  


_ Hi again, big bro. _

_ Things got really scary for a while since the last time I wrote to you. _

_ Team Meteor invaded the house we were staying at - and they kidnapped Saphira! (She’s Charlotte and Laura’s big sister). Laura and Decibel - they’re a gym challenger who’s been doing  _ really  _ well - went to get her out. A lot of stuff happened, but we’ve moved out of their house now. We don’t want Team Meteor to find us again. _

_ I went up to Ametrine City on my own after a while to try to find Heather - she got adopted by someone who lives up there. His name was Blake, and it turns out he was working for Team Meteor. Which is bad. _

_ Heather found out, though! So he locked her in the shed where he was keeping all of the food he stole from the city on Team Meteor’s orders, which is also bad... _

_ Me and Decibel found her eventually, though. She got out, which is good. And we started giving everyone the food Blake stole - they were even eating Pokesnax and quick-grown food from a few Grass-type pokemon. _

_ And then we went to fight Blake, and Decibel beat him after I lost to him (I guess he was an ice trainer, though… and a bunch of my pokemon are part flying type). _

_ I’ve… been training with my pokemon a lot recently, too. I’ve grown a lot myself, and I met a bunch of new pokemon who became my teammates! I named them after my friends, too. Like with Heather! There’s Cal, and Decibel, and Anna, and Noel, and Cain... _

_ They’re all my friends here in Reborn too! _

_...I haven’t been using Bugsy in battles as much lately. _

_ I know that pokemon can all be super strong if you train them right, but… I think he and Illumise wanted me to go on without them, it feels like? _

_ They came with me from Johto - I think I know what they meant. I… think I needed this. _

_ I needed to come here, to Reborn. I… feel better here, honestly. I think it might be because I’m not just “Bugsy’s sister” or “the Bug gym leader” anymore. I’m just… me, now. Shelly. Just one more pokemon trainer traveling the region, making new friends, learning about me. And they figured that out before I did, it seems? I mean, I caught Heather after I got to Reborn. And she was… I don’t know how to put it, but she felt… more free, than the rest of my team did. _

_ Maybe that was because they all came with me from Johto too? I don’t know. _

_ I haven’t released them or anything! I’m making sure that I train all of them too (I actually might have more pokemon now than you do, big bro!) _

_ I don’t know how much you’ve been training, but I’ve been working with every one of my teammates every day so we can get stronger - and I’ve been practicing with Charlotte and Heather too! (I lose a lot, since they’re both Fire and Flying trainers and are way higher in the League than me, but I’ve been getting better at holding out longer or countering them). _

_ I’m going to go back to the Lapis Ward one day (I hear that there are a lot of people who are upset I haven’t been there to take challenges…), and I’m going to… well, I’m going to do my best to be a good gym leader. And I’m going to keep training, and making friends, and being good friends with the friends I have here in Reborn. (I really hope the other Gym Leaders keep meeting up after this is all over, I really like them - I wish I had gotten to meet them sooner). _

_ When I first came here… I wanted to prove myself to you, and mom and dad. _

_ I think I still want to. But I think that I’ve proved myself to me before I did to any of you. _

_ And I think that’s a lot more important to me now. _

_ I’m probably going to stay in Reborn for a while. The next time the World Tournament starts up, I’m going to enter it! I hope I see you there like I did last time. But this time we’ll both be in the arena. _

_ From, Shelly. _

  
  
  


_ Hey, bro. _

_ I just learned this today, but it looks like the train wasn’t running until recently, because of all the damage Team Meteor did to the train station. I guess I should have looked into that sooner... I guess that’s why I didn’t get any letters or anything, though I wish you’d called more. _

_ I… things got hard recently. Cain’s disappeared, and I know he’s okay, but… I might not see him for a while. But Anna and Noel met their father! As it turns out, he’s the psychic gym leader here - his name is Radomus. He wasn’t separated from them by choice, he says, and he’s spending a lot of time with them. Or at least a lot of time with Anna since she’s more friendly - I think Noel’s kind of hurt by that.  _

_ And Team Meteor made another attack on Agate City. We chased them out, but… the Fighting gym leader Samson disappeared too. Like Cain did. _

_ I hope they’re both okay. Team Meteor has… done a lot. We captured a ton of their members, and Decibel got to what we think is one of their last bases and beat everyone there, but… the rest of them are in hiding. And we think that they’re planning something big really soon. _

_ I just hope everything turns out okay. _

_ Please talk to me when you get this letter. Even if you just send another letter. _

_ Your sister, Shelly. _


	2. Letter to Shelly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bugsy finally gets the letters meant for him, and sends one back.

Bugsy wasn’t that talkative most of the time, unless he was discussing Bug Pokemon.

It was just who he was. 

Honestly, that might be part of why his sister was so fond of them too - it was, for a long time, the only way the two of them could talk to each other normally. If he wanted to talk to her at all.

The sad thing was, her moving to Reborn hadn’t really changed how much he talked to her at all. (Besides the occasional phone call where she asked him for advice on how to change up her team).

And as he read the handful of letters from his sister (which had only arrived today), all of this was running through Bugsy’s mind.

And it was making him feel sick to his stomach.

_I should have called._

He had let her go off on her own to the Reborn Region - an area known for being decrepit and harder on its trainers than nearly anywhere else in the world - without so much as a word of protest. Genius or not. And he hadn’t even bothered to see if she was doing okay.

He hadn’t even asked their parents how she was doing!

So...

_What should I do now?_

He wanted to get on the train. Or one of his Bug pokemon - whichever would get him to Reborn faster. Whatever would get him within sight of his little sister the soonest.

But he was a gym leader. He couldn’t just leave like that. 

Like he’d left her behind before. Because of how she had been leaving him behind.

  
  


“Shelly? What’s that?” Heather sounded confused. Since her first friend was looking at the piece of mail in front of her like the more religious gym leaders had looked at the Meteor of Arceus, she felt justified in feeling that way.

Shelly was beaming. “My brother sent me a letter!”

“Bugsy? Huh.” Heather couldn’t honestly say she cared all that much about the gym leader in question. 

Heck, if it wasn’t for her knowing what hate was really like thanks to her experiences with Blake and Connal, she might have said she flat out hated him.

He’d never even bothered to call, send a letter to, or do _anything_ to contact Shelly, as far as she knew, the entire time they had known each other. And _now_ , he was just contacting her out of nowhere and Shelly was acting like everything was okay?

Yeah. This guy could go to heck for all she cared. No matter what Shelly said.

But she wasn’t going to say that to her friend’s face.

So instead, she settled for a question. “What’s it say?”

“I don’t know! Let’s read it together!” Shelly smiled lightly.

  
  
  


Bugsy wasn’t sure how he should begin the letter.

There were just so many things that he wanted to say.

_I’m glad that you’re safe._

_I should have been there sooner._

_I should have been a better big brother for you._

_Have you made any friends?_

_Are the other leaders treating you okay?_

That last one may have been inspired by his status as the second newest of the Johto gym leaders - second only to Falkner. Who was, thanks to his _flying pokemon_ specialization, able to beat him routinely more often than not.

He wanted to say that he would get better - good enough to, alongside his pokemon, battle their way to the top of the world. 

Battle their way to be as good as Aaron was. _Better_ than Aaron was.

But he knew something would always be in his way.

His sister would always, always, eventually beat him there.

  
  
  


_Hi, Shelly._

_I’m sorry._

Heather snorted, but let Shelly keep reading.

_I know that I haven’t been a good brother. I haven’t talked to you, I haven’t spoken with you. And if you want to be mad at me for that, I understand._

_And… I guess I wanted to tell you why I didn’t really want to talk to you all that much._

_I’ve loved Bug pokemon for years - and I know you do too. I guess it runs in the family._

_And…_

_I guess, in the end, the last part is hard to say._

_You… love them more than me? You know them better?_

_I’m not sure how to put it._

_But… you’re better. Better than me._

_I know you’re younger, and I know you looked up to me, but… that’s always how it’s been._

_You became a gym leader when you were younger than I was when I became one, you caught your first pokemon when you were younger, you’ve always had more pokemon than me…_

_You’re better than me. As a trainer, and as a sibling. You have been for years._

_I guess I just couldn’t handle that._

_I’ll try to be a better brother if you ever come back to Johto. I’m not sure if you will. But I just wanted to put that out there._

_Good luck, no matter what you do._

_Your brother, Bugsy._

_P.S: I’ll see you at that Tournament._

  
  
  


Shelly was quiet for a few seconds.

Heather wasn’t.

“Wow. At least he admits it.”

“Heather!” To the surprise of the younger girl, Shelly whipped around - and for once, there was genuine anger on her face, something so unlike Shelly it left her shocked. 

For a second or two. Then, Heather scowled and snapped back. “What!? He _admitted_ it! He and your family - they’re barely ever around for you! I barely knew that you had a family! They never call! You talked about it all the time! _I_ was there for you more than they were even before dad died, and I was a horrible friend back then!”

“NO! You aren’t!” Shelly was, for once, almost angry. “A-and neither were they!”

Before she could even try to stop herself, Heather was screaming. “WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO DEFEND THEM SO MUCH!? YEAH, THEY’RE YOUR FAMILY! BUT JUST BECAUSE THEY’RE YOUR FAMILY **DOESN’T MEAN SHIT**!” Her words left her silent and panting in fury.

And they left Shelly pale as a ghost.

“H-heather…”

Heather scowled. “You of all people should know that by now! I mean… look at everyone we know.” She sighed. “Luna and Taka’s dads both sucked, Victoria said Kiki told her that her family sucked, Cain ran away from his mom because she was upset he liked boys and girls, and I don’t know what the heck happened to pretty much everyone else’s parents sometimes.”

When she finally did speak, Shelly spoke almost as quietly as she had after Cal yelled at her. “Heather… I want to give them a chance.”

_“Why?”_

It took Shelly several seconds to reply.

“Because… I am angry. A little. But I don’t think I’ll get anywhere by being angry at my brother when he wants to try making up.”

Heather was quiet. Then, she sat down next to Shelly. “Well, I guess your brother was extra right about one thing.”

“What’s that?”

Heather rubbed her friend’s back and gave her a friendly smile.

“You really are better than him.”

Part of Shelly wanted to say that wasn’t possible - nobody could be cooler than her big brother! To her, at least.

The rest of her disagreed. 

“Maybe. But I’m not as good as you, though.” She smiled at her friend.

Heather smirked. “Let’s call that a difference of opinion.”

Shelly kept smiling. “Okay!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter features a minor headcanon of mine - that Bugsy is partly so neglectful of Shelly because he's jealous of her. We all know he's the older brother - and when you think about it, Shelly is just kicking his backside at being a Bug trainer, from what we have seen.


End file.
